[newpipe]

Hi!
I would like to buy the ASRock E350M1/USB3 to build my HTPC with TVHeadend and XBMC.
The most important tasks that system should be capable of are the following:
*) Watching HDTV which is encoded in MPEG-4. See Satellite TV Spec
*) Watching HD Youtube with the Plugin.

I know that h.264 videos work with the Fusion platform. But will HDTV, where the streams are encoded in MPEG-4, also work with this board?

[Edit]
The system will run under Linux.
Thanks,
newpipe

[cscamp20]

Hi!
I would like to buy the ASRock E350M1/USB3 to build my HTPC with TVHeadend and XBMC.
The most important tasks that system should be capable of are the following:
*) Watching HDTV which is encoded in MPEG-4. See Satellite TV Spec
*) Watching HD Youtube with the Plugin.

I know that h.264 videos work with the Fusion platform. But will HDTV, where the streams are encoded in MPEG-4, also work with this board?

[Edit]
The system will run under Linux.
Thanks,
newpipe

I'm on the same boat as you are but i already bought the Asrock board. im just about to build it. It will probably work but what i am reading from the forums is i dont know if HD video is going to run as smooth all the time. even though i haven't tried mine decided to buy a video card on mine to take load off the CPU. Will probably start build next week. By the way, i will be installing Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit / Solid state drive / Corsair XMS 8GB (which is probably overkill since Asrock E350m1 slots are only single channel) and a GT430 2GB video card. I also plan on using it as Windows Media Center Extender connected to a 46" HDTV

Try this thread

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=134948&page=3

[newpipe]

Hi!
Actually I bought another system. Now I'm running an ASRock board with an Intel Celeron G530 processor. The GPU included in the processor is able to play HD content without any problems. While playing HD videos I've a CPU load of about 4-6%. With that system you will not need an extra graphics card. I also tried to play HD content without the acceleration of the GPU. That was also no problem at all and I had a CPU load of about 60% on one of the two cores.

Also the cost for my system was just about 10 Euros more than for the E-350 system.
The only advantage of an E-350 system in my eyes is, that the energy consumption would be slightly better. But if you are inserting an extra graphics card, you are throwing away the only advantage of the E-350 system. And in addition you will have a higher price at the end.

So I would suggest either build the E-350 system without an extra graphics card or build a Celeron system with using the GPU included in the processor. When using the Celeron system you will also get a much(!) higher CPU performance.

Best Regards,
newpipe

[DavidT99]

Hi!
I would like to buy the ASRock E350M1/USB3 to build my HTPC with TVHeadend and XBMC.
The most important tasks that system should be capable of are the following:
*) Watching HDTV which is encoded in MPEG-4. See Satellite TV Spec
*) Watching HD Youtube with the Plugin.

I know that h.264 videos work with the Fusion platform. But will HDTV, where the streams are encoded in MPEG-4, also work with this board?

[Edit]
The system will run under Linux.
Thanks,
newpipe

I'm on the same boat as you are but i already bought the Asrock board. im just about to build it. It will probably work but what i am reading from the forums is i dont know if HD video is going to run as smooth all the time. even though i haven't tried mine decided to buy a video card on mine to take load off the CPU. Will probably start build next week. By the way, i will be installing Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit / Solid state drive / Corsair XMS 8GB (which is probably overkill since Asrock E350m1 slots are only single channel) and a GT430 2GB video card. I also plan on using it as Windows Media Center Extender connected to a 46" HDTV

Try this thread

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=134948&page=3

The e350 igpu is perfectly capable of HD video, no need for a discrete gpu which will make no difference to the CPU load as video playback is a gpu function.

David

[cscamp20]

Hi!
I would like to buy the ASRock E350M1/USB3 to build my HTPC with TVHeadend and XBMC.
The most important tasks that system should be capable of are the following:
*) Watching HDTV which is encoded in MPEG-4. See Satellite TV Spec
*) Watching HD Youtube with the Plugin.

I know that h.264 videos work with the Fusion platform. But will HDTV, where the streams are encoded in MPEG-4, also work with this board?

[Edit]
The system will run under Linux.
Thanks,
newpipe

I'm on the same boat as you are but i already bought the Asrock board. im just about to build it. It will probably work but what i am reading from the forums is i dont know if HD video is going to run as smooth all the time. even though i haven't tried mine decided to buy a video card on mine to take load off the CPU. Will probably start build next week. By the way, i will be installing Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit / Solid state drive / Corsair XMS 8GB (which is probably overkill since Asrock E350m1 slots are only single channel) and a GT430 2GB video card. I also plan on using it as Windows Media Center Extender connected to a 46" HDTV

Try this thread

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=134948&page=3

The e350 igpu is perfectly capable of HD video, no need for a discrete gpu which will make no difference to the CPU load as video playback is a gpu function.

David

Hi David,

So you're saying that i will be able to stream hd content like (live tv, netflix HD) fine with the E350's igpu? because i have read in another e350 thread that HD content (like youtube HD, netflix HD) doesn't play smoothly on the E350. i actually just bought the GT430 card last night because it was on sale of $19.99 that is after rebates

[cscamp20]

Hi!
Actually I bought another system. Now I'm running an ASRock board with an Intel Celeron G530 processor. The GPU included in the processor is able to play HD content without any problems. While playing HD videos I've a CPU load of about 4-6%. With that system you will not need an extra graphics card. I also tried to play HD content without the acceleration of the GPU. That was also no problem at all and I had a CPU load of about 60% on one of the two cores.

Also the cost for my system was just about 10 Euros more than for the E-350 system.
The only advantage of an E-350 system in my eyes is, that the energy consumption would be slightly better. But if you are inserting an extra graphics card, you are throwing away the only advantage of the E-350 system. And in addition you will have a higher price at the end.

So I would suggest either build the E-350 system without an extra graphics card or build a Celeron system with using the GPU included in the processor. When using the Celeron system you will also get a much(!) higher CPU performance.

Best Regards,
newpipe

I see that it has been three months since you started that thread so you went another route. I actually am building another mini itx system but this time its not an all in one combo board. It a Zotac 880G AM3 mini itx board and i'll be using an AMD Phenom X4 processor (95watt TDP). Believe it or not but this cost less than the E350m1 board. That will run as my main Window MCE system / it will be used as a DVR as well to record hd content from my service provider. The E350m1 system will by my extender. I dont plan on adding a high end graphics card as i dont do any gaming. So many good deals on video cards right now less than $30 after rebates here in the US that i cant pass on.

Regards,

C